Rebels reconciled and taught (Quality: Average)

[0:00] We will speak with the Lord's heart in the epistles with Ephesians, chapter 6 and verse 15. Epistles to the Ephesians, chapter 6 and verse 15.

[0:18] And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

[0:36] It will be remembered that we read these words last chapter, but found in the previous verse, matter enough for the service, the great mercy.

[0:56] And even now, well as deep, the subject before us is stand therefore.

[1:08] Stand therefore. Having your loins girt about with truth. And having on the breastplate of righteousness. And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

[1:26] It goes on to say, and above all, we'll go no further than this 15th verse. The Lord has favoured us to find fresh matter in it on our knees.

[1:45] May well be for someone who's feet are where we read in Isaiah. Need of the casting up of the highway. Casting out of the stone.

[2:00] The obstacles, the difficulties. Insurmountable they may be. Same time, the blessed gospel of peace.

[2:16] Peace through the alone atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is a preparation in the eyes of the apostles.

[2:28] So it was indeed, and still is. The inference and teaching here therefore is that the Lord's people in their wrestling, not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places, need armour.

[2:56] And as I said last Sabbath day, they have it. And if they didn't, they would soon be overcome. This blessed breastplate of righteousness with which we closed our thoughts last Sabbath is two-sided.

[3:20] We do not believe that there is no armour for the back because we believe the figure teaches us that there is. The breastplate and covering for the back as well as for the front.

[3:38] Giving us full notice that dangers surround us those back and front. But now the feet, indicating a walking.

[3:53] Paul speaks very much about this. Walking in the fourth chapter he opens up by saying that I beseech you that he walks worthy of the vocation wherewith you call.

[4:12] This isn't a natural vocation. You've all got your vocations in life. This is a spiritual vocation.

[4:22] One that is detailed, outlined, continuous, you walk worthy of it.

[4:35] Wherewith you are called. We say among ourselves naturally as among men that person is called to a vocation.

[4:52] we say that born to this vocation as a good many of course are. Spiritually this is undoubtedly true.

[5:06] And that vocation is to walk worthy. Yes, walk worthy. Paul, the office, the business, yes, in the chapel.

[5:19] no place where you can put it off and say, well, it doesn't matter about my vocation here, nobody sees me.

[5:30] I can hide this vocation away. No. Vocation of the calling of Christ is normally called Christian.

[5:47] and in actual fact, the reality of it is undoubtedly the correct name.

[5:59] He beseeches them therefore that they walk worthy of this vocation with all loneliness of mind, meekness and long suffering, forbearing one another in love and so on.

[6:15] What a vocation isn't it? And the more you think about it, the more you see the full meaning of it.

[6:28] Lowliness of mind, meekness, long suffering, long suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

[6:47] Couldn't be set out the more clearly, could it? And then in the sixth chapter, the opening of that, or the fifth rather, he says, be ye therefore followers of God, how?

[7:03] As dear children. Not all children are dear, are they? we hear today the world of the neglect of little children.

[7:17] We hear of the sad effects of it, untried, undisciplined, discipline put on one side, as if it were a matter of total indifference, but spiritually, this is the appeal of the gospel, followers of God as dear children and walk in love.

[7:48] love. So, here are two cases, and you can find others in this official, if you look, if I hope you will, just with the wall of the believer, and this is what you want your feet shot for.

[8:08] The very beautiful thought, which I've often had, and often expressed, and still love, is the thought of Peter in prison in the 12th of Acts, where he was guarded by 16 soldiers, where the angel rose and came and smote him and said, rise up, cast thy girdle about thee, bind on thy sandals.

[8:39] Always been a warm, hearty, hearted text to me. The angel never knew what sandals were, but he certainly did not neglect to exhort Peter, to bind on his sandals.

[9:01] No hurry, Peter, don't rush out, it won't hurt you. You're not going to walk across these cold stones, Peter, even though you are where you are.

[9:17] Cast thy garment about thee and follow me. Very beautiful of God's deliverance to know. Nothing neglected, nothing forgotten.

[9:32] Go back to the Old Testament, that well-known text, thou shoes shall be iron and brass.

[9:44] Highly figurative, of course. You couldn't walk in shoes made of iron, and you certainly couldn't walk in them if they were made of brass. Martin says, under thy feet of the iron cross.

[10:02] This has been an everlasting source of comfort to the pilgrims in Zion that as their day so shall their strength be.

[10:16] And they fruit it so that these simple utterances of the word of God when applied to the spiritual pathway are not only very act, but they're very encouraging.

[10:33] Here Peter sees the believer standing therefore, girt about with the armor.

[10:46] And as I said last Sabbath, in the sixth chapter, he speaks of children obeying their parents in the Lord, telling them to honor father and mother.

[11:02] And he speaks to fathers not to provoke their children to rot. Then he speaks to servants to be obedient to them that are masters, not with eye service and so on.

[11:18] all inclusive, isn't it? This is where the battleground is, isn't it? Starts in childhood through graves and the Lord begins for the young person in their early days they soon begin to find those oppositions.

[11:40] And as they grow older, of course, it gets worse. when they come down to the end of the journey they're not spared. God still enables them to maintain the battle as Joseph Hart says with soldier-like behaviour.

[12:02] in this therefore we have something that is so beautifully fitting, a gospel that we can take home with us, that's what I like.

[12:17] A gospel that you can bring indoors, and a gospel you can take to bed with yourself, and a gospel you can get up with, and a gospel that you can take to work with you, and a gospel that you can talk about to each other, not some high language that nobody will understand, something that you can talk to the children about too, this gospel that's needed everywhere.

[12:56] there's nothing more fitting than the figure of the feet shod, so that this is done for the protection of the feet, and not only so, the speed of the journey.

[13:20] I know that natives run about without anything on their feet at all, but they certainly didn't hear in the east. Sandals was the common footwear, and it is this that the apostle is undoubtedly referring to.

[13:43] When we come to the practical side of it, how much do we know about having our feet protected from the roughness of the pathway, the stones, the scorpions, and the light, that are found in the journey.

[14:07] First of all, therefore, what is this preparation of the gospel of peace? Who was prepared? What is the gospel of peace?

[14:18] peace? What does peace mean? It infers obviously warfare, at least if not warfare, is strange.

[14:30] the gospel of peace is the gospel of reconciliation, bringing two parties together that have been at the distance.

[14:42] That peace which is conveyed by the look of the eye as well as the tone of the voice. You can see by the eye, and so can other people see too, if your eyes clasped in anger.

[15:03] You can't hide it up. The eye is as much a voice as the tongue. It does as much damage too. Saul eyed David, and we read from that day and forward.

[15:20] Jacob saw that Laban's face was not toward him as hitherto. Don't we all stand on common ground here?

[15:34] Is there anyone that can say that they never pass this message of either anger or blame through the eye? The eye speaks.

[15:47] There is a word in them, and so it is with the gospel of peace.

[15:59] We have the eye of Jehovah here. We have his voice here. His communication is revelation of what he will have us do.

[16:15] that is walk. Walk worthy. Walk consistently. Walk in love.

[16:29] As I was saying not only to the adults, but to the children as well. Honor their father and mother.

[16:41] If they love them, they will do so. How grievous when age brings the children out of their childhood into manhood and they begin to despise.

[16:58] He that despiseth his father and his mother, says Hagar in the book of the proverb, the eagle shall peck out his eyes.

[17:09] figure of speech of course, but nonetheless, very solemn thing to despise one's parents in their later days.

[17:24] In this therefore, we have such a wide range that we must keep our thoughts to the text. What is this gospel of peace?

[17:36] it is reconciliation between God and man. And who has brought this about?

[17:50] Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. The anointed me preach the gospel. This is the one that has brought you the mouth.

[18:04] Bind up the broken heart heartily. Preach good tidings to the meek. Procure liberty to the captive. The opening of the prison to them that are bound.

[18:17] This was his task. This he accomplished. Untold numbers have enjoyed this glorious result of the spirit of the Lord God resting upon the Lord Jesus.

[18:39] But mind you it's a gospel that is hated by the arch enemy of souls. And although it didn't seem as if it could possibly happen in that quiet corner of Nazareth in the synagogue when Jesus opened the roll upon this and read it he didn't read very far he read as far as to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord that's all that's as far as he had come then and he closed the book and sat down the eyes of all were fastened upon him he said today is this scripture as far as this that is fulfilled in your ears the outcome of this was that they were so embittered against him when he referred to

[19:49] Naaman and his healing and the woman from the Gentile code any widows with Israel in the time of Elijah they led him out to the brow of the hill would have cast him down headlong that's the first as far as we know preaching of the Lord Jesus now this is where the peace comes in the bitter enmity the carnal mind against the gospel of the grace of God not in your neighbor but in you you don't like it you won't have it and if we talk to the children in a state of nature they will if we talk to the fathers in a state of nature they will it's only by grace that this matter of reconciliation and peace with God is brought into the heart and life but what does really happen is this that this enmity is seen in its true light these people that cast

[21:16] Jesus out to the synagogue at Nazareth if their eyes were ever open to see what they had done they must have deeply regretted no reason to think that some of them at least didn't and if you've ever been guilty of this evil rejection in your heart of the gospel of the grace of God you know what enmity is it wasn't just some powerful dislike like the children say at school well I don't like history I don't like geography it's not like that at all it's an inbred hatred it's something deeply rooted and when a gospel of peace is first heard with the heart and the understanding and the reconciliation the approachable nature of this gospel is first heard in a heart and it changes the whole matter things that you once hated and that means what it says you gradually begin deterrent and you know it and you find something fighting against it and yet that love never dies that desire is never finally and fully quenched once it begins it never ends this gospel of peace who tells us in this same epistle isn't it the second chapter seems to cover everything the 14th verse in the second chapter for he is our peace who has made both one broken down the middle wall of petition between us having abolished in his flesh the enmity even the law of commandments that was this you see that thou shalt not which turned up all the enmity in your life when you were without

[23:56] Christ and if you are without him today stirs it up to death you're not going to be told what you're not to do no one's going to be your master you're going to manage your own affairs but this has been removed and some of us can thank God that it has been we don't want our own way no that's done for a good many years but it was a tidy fight when the Lord began that the enmity was a grave so that in this he's our peace and he's done something he's abolished his flesh the enmity for to make in himself of two one new man so making peace how perfectly then in the early days of the gospel so soon after the resurrection of the

[25:16] Lord Jesus peace peace of the gospel of peace revealed in its entirety it never has been added to but it never will be taken away there is nothing in it but what is the final revelation of the divine purposes of God and that is peace and this peace is made by the merit work life death resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and this is not appreciated in its fullness and to its greatest extent until time goes on and experience reveals the blessedness of Paul calls it the ministry of reconciliation what a lovely thing reconciliation is on earth isn't it when offending and contending parties are brought together the floodgates of love are opened up aren't they all all that's gone before is blotted out and forgotten there is a reality beyond expression so with the gospel of peace and of guilt is who cannot say one good word about himself and knows for fact that he is born in and contains in himself a part that is calm and it's still calm but he finds a newer nature that struggles fights against him that which is born of the flesh is flesh so clear so simple write it in the front of your bible if you like underline it that which is born of the spirit is spirit it ever will be blessed be god nothing can detract from this now this peace therefore is viewed in gospel life a perfect peace that means that it's satisfactory to both sides the church of god and to god himself it is not a patched up peace it's not a peace that is likely to fail or to be brought into question it is a peace that will stand the greatest opposition from this master of lies the devil himself and if he could destroy it and overthrow it he would certainly do so so that here is something durable and lasting and this peace is quite independent of anything in the creature if it

[29:16] were dependent upon your good walk and your holy life and there are many doctrines that speak of them quietism is one of them that Christ shall work through you nothing of the kind in you yes we are told by one doctrine that is if we allow the Lord Jesus to work through us and acquire unresistant peaceful allow his will to be done in everything all will be worth nothing has come it's Christ in you the hope of glory in you how here lies the solidity of this peace how him says peace by his cross as

[30:29] Jesus made and this peace therefore is acceptable to the sinner how indeed it is he won't find hope with it guilty sinners given the taste of the peace of God that passes all understanding will never find fault with the peace through the blood of the cross never this will be their resting place they'll never have a doubt about his power to effectiveness it is this that is the foundation that standeth sure peace by his cross peace and this is just a few remarks about a vast subject you know these things as well as

[31:43] I do say some of you do you know the blessedness of this peace in your several degrees peace but you know that there's a lot more to know taste handle and feel about it that can be expressed in a sermon this peace is the peace that God provided and that through the terrible pathway of inflicting his people's just deserts upon the head of his dear son Jesus Christ so that it cannot but be acceptable it is a peace which

[32:43] God of might takes two parties and this peace is enduring to go no further with it therefore for the moment it is a prepared peace from eternal council chamber came this divine purpose as of a land slain from before the foundation of the world says Peter we are therefore brought to a stand really as regards our natural minds we cannot contemplate that which is in eternity past how then are we going to gain any comfort from this unless we have that gracious gift of faith the purposes of God this peace was planned covenanted designed for his people for whom he did for know and he'll serve his predestina as we heard on

[34:20] Wednesday last divine poor knowledge place this side by side with the beauty of God given peace what a calm atmosphere it fulfilled like the calm after storm what a beauty there is this is the atmosphere this is the warmth what's underneath the feet guilt sin unworthiness barrier after barrier rough road after rough road fall after fall cast up says the word cast up the highway gather out the stones go through the gates prepare ye the way and this was the prophet

[35:27] Isaiah years before it came fast look how suitable it is today cast up cast up this is what God's servants have to do and it said that they shall lift up their voice and that watchmen are set upon the walls and they shall never hold their peace day nor night ye that make mention of the Lord keep not silence give him no rest and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth it is this casting up that is so needful in every generation every newborn soul comes to a fresh pathway although others have been in it and though others know what it means you have to learn it for yourself just like the children you know what pitfalls you were brought out of or plunged into in your youth and therefore you can ward your children with a good deal of sand cancer you know what mistakes you made you know how you failed therefore you children listen to me your parents advice is worth to experience this theirs and yours don't you say you don't know father you don't know mother they do and they're telling you for your good but if you neglected it and if you said no

[37:32] I'm not listening mother I'm not going to listen mother you know well enough that you now regret it if God has opened your eyes so with the preaching of the gospel how many regret that they turned a deaf ear to the word of God and now are brought to see why they need shoes of iron and brass for their peace so that the preparation of the gospel peace so that these pitfalls and these barriers these boulders call them what we may are very real and you're going to stumble and fall that there is the standing which as

[38:39] I said is the point of the apostles remark stand therefore having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace keep on your feet keep on your feet stand where upon this gospel of peace not peace that you have contributed to yourself outside of you entirely the peace of God stand there you may well be thinking of standing in your own peace you're going to be successful where others have failed you're going to make your peace with God you're going to earn his favour gain his pleasure you may be really stumbled at that waiting for some goodness so many have you see that you could get a hundred witnesses to this solemn truth that they've been deceived into thinking a time would come when they would merit

[40:16] God's favour and that there will be some slight improvement it's like waiting by the bedside of a dying patient expecting them by some miraculous means to recover how many times have they been told and you've been told with no help himself you don't believe the time comes when your eyes are directed to the remedy the peace that is in Christ that of how could walk to take a step there to begin to move in the right direction this tremendous tumbling block as it was to Israel of old no longer is there when you see this but oh what a different person you'll be in but the few says

[41:20] Paul who knew well what he was talking about your feet shot in the preparation of the gospel of peace stand therefore this is the objective stand and this is the other part of the matter which is having an objective when you walk you're looking ahead you're expecting to go on a journey over the hillbills of life and walk this way they have a city a heaven in night in sore in hope is not this obtainable only through the peace of the cross the lord bless then these two thoughts of holiness do do do do or do?

[42:49] i and